


can anyone switch off the sun?

by girlsarewolves



Series: Switch Off the Sun [1]
Category: Blade (Movie Series), Blade - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Non-Linear Narrative, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Timeline What Timeline, crack ship, sort of love triangle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-03 00:52:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1063724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsarewolves/pseuds/girlsarewolves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day, Abigail's dad showed up back from the dead, with a mutant vampire. Everything's been complicated since. AU set after Blade II and ignoring Blade: Trinity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. present

**Author's Note:**

> Ignores and alters the ending of Blade II; Nomak and Nyssa both lived, and Nomak came back to America with Whistler and Blade and got dumped on Abigail and the Nightstalkers. Will borrow things from Trinity and possibly the series, but mostly will ignore the plots of both. This will occasionally go back and forth between present and flashbacks - the chapter title will indicate which. Feedback is appreciated. :)

* * *

"I don't want him here, Abby."  
  
Abigail exhales softly but deeply; her eyes roll behind her closed eyelids. Her teeth reflexively grind together - a reaction she can't help whenever King manages to sound like a petulant five year old and a bossy teenager at the same time.  
  
"He's always watching you."  
  
"So are you."  
  
King leans over and moves his head between her and the gun she's cleaning. "It's different."  
  
She knows that. Same as she knows that he's watching them right now and that he watches her back even when King can't.  
  
Maybe that's why Hannibal so badly wants him gone.  
  
"My father promised him that he'd have a home here with us. I'm not going back on my dad's word."  
  
King sighs and moves out of her vision. He paces behind her; she can hear him running his hands over his head. "Whistler, he's dangerous."  
  
"We all are."  
  
"Damn it, Abby, stop taking the focus off the matter at hand, okay?" Hannibal moves close to her again, and this time Abigail looks up to meet his gaze. "He's different."  
  
"You mean like Blade?"  
  
Hannibal closes his eyes and mutters a few creative curses under his breath. "No, Abby. Not like Blade. Blade at least is something more...natural. As far as the supernatural goes. And besides, I've never met the mighty Daywalker, so it's a little unfair to judge. This guy? This guy was a vampire lab rat! That stalks you!"  
  
She doesn't want this conversation. Not now - not when Nomak can hear - not ever. She isn't sure if she agrees with her father's instructions that Nomak become part of their team, she isn't sure if she agrees with the suggestion of keeping him close to make sure he never gets out of hand.  
  
But the one thing she does know is her dad's dying. Maybe he was never there for her, and he isn't really there for her now - but the creature he brought back with him from Europe and dropped on her proverbial doorstep is her only link these days.  
  
"So, what, we make him leave because he was poked and prodded by Damaskinos' scientists? We tell him because of the shit his father put him through he can't stay here? Well, why don't you go with him, cabana boy?"  
  
Hannibal's eyes are already glassy, and he recoils from her as though she just pulled a gun on him. "Whistler..."  
  
Abby instantly regrets the venom in her poor choice of words, but it doesn't cool her anger towards him for pushing, for what he was suggesting. "I'm sorry. But Nomak isn't going anywhere just because you can't handle competition." She stands before he can argue or protest or deny; the gun lays on the table, forgotten. She slams the door behind her.  
  
King isn't the only one that watches her leave.


	2. past

* * *

When her dad shows up with someone tall and thin behind him, dressed like a bum, Abigail isn't expecting the words, "This here is a vampire mutant. Name's Nomak. You're gonna keep an eye on him."  
  
She's furious, really. Last she knew, her father was dead or possibly a vampire - Karen wasn't really sure because Blade was being a secretive and private asshole like usual - and now suddenly she's supposed to babysit some mutant vampire she's just finding out about?  
  
The mutant in question keeps his hood up so that she can't see his face, and Abigail is tense with suspicions and anger - but then he whispers in a hoarse, gravely voice. "I don't feed on humans."  
  
Oh, yeah, that makes everything okay.  
  
Abigail levels a glare at her father who ignores it, of course, and lights a cigarette. She grabs it and stomps it out. "Are you human?"  
  
"Of course I'm fucking human, Abby. I wouldn't be here if I was still a fucking blood-sucker!"  
  
"And how am I supposed to know that, huh? I've known you a total of four years - two of which you were missing, either dead or undead, who even knows! And it's not like we spent much time together in the two years before that outside of training me when Blade was preoccupied. Now you're telling me to let a vampire, mutated or not, stay here with us - and you've started smoking again!" She doesn't mean to yell, or to cry, but she winds up doing both. She doesn't cry hard, it's a few tears, enough to wet her cheeks a little, but she hates it all the same.  
  
The mutant vampire backs away, to get away from the hysterics or to give them privacy, who the hell even knows.  
  
Her father sighs heavily and comes closer, wrapping his arms around her - which is strange for Abigail, because her father never really hugged her.  
  
Ever.  
  
"I'm sorry, Abby. This is why I didn't want you getting involved in this life. Why I thought you were better off without me. I'm sorry for snapping or for showing up unannounced with Nomak back there." He holds her while he talks, and she realizes he really means the apology, really means the emotion she can hear, cause he holds her so she can't see his face. He doesn't like getting emotional around her; maybe he doesn't like getting emotional around anyone.  
  
Abigail clutches him tight as she can and fights back more tears, because she isn't too fond of being emotional around others either. She almost laughs at that; at how much she must be like her father and not even know it.  
  
"It's okay, Dad. I'm just, I'm glad you're alive."  
  
It's probably about ten more minutes of hugging and trying not to break down before they both let go and step back, awkwardly watching each other and pretending they're fine. Her eyes are dry and hot, and he still looks a little teary-eyed.  
  
She realizes that nothing will ever make her feel closer to her father than this moment right now.  
  
"Over in Europe, after Blade found me, something happened. Something big. Nomak here was part of it. I'll explain everything, but I want him to stay with you and your team. Like he said, he doesn't feed on humans. He feeds on vampires."  
  
Abigail looks over at this mutant, remembering he's been around the whole time. She almost feels embarrassed; a little too exposed. But she keeps a stony expression on her face and nods. "You have a first name, or is it just Nomak?"  
  
The vampire hesitates, then walks back over to them and pulls the hood of his jacket down - revealing pale, sallow skin and visible veins everywhere. His blue eyes are milky and bloodshot, but he looks right at her and nods. "Jared."


	3. present

* * *

Jared hates Hannibal King.  
  
He could list a dozen legitimate reasons for his hatred, but those aren't anywhere close to the root of the problem. He could say he hates having to look up even one inch at King while King glares down his nose at Nomak. Or he could say that he's bitter that King gets to run errands before sundown or go to the beach.  
  
Jared does like going to the beach - but he only gets to see the moonlight on black waters, never sun or clouds over murky sea green.  
  
It doesn't matter though; none of it matters.  
  
He still has to put up with King. And he knows that King hates him; at least King still has to put up with him, too.

Abigail's made that clear. To both of them.  
  
"You're glaring," the doctor - Karen Jenson, hematologist and weapons maker and the one responsible for the cure, the one taking samples of his blood once a week to study - tells him as she hands him a mug of chilled blood.  
  
Nomak shrugs and takes the offered meal. "Zoe says I always look like I'm angry. Or hurting." He drinks the blood in hungry gulps; he's been trying to go slower but it's hard when the cool, coppery liquid is all that helps.  
  
The little girl wasn't wrong about the always hurting part.  
  
"Zoe is a very observant child. But I've learned there's a difference between your usual, pained expression and 'the glare'. Mostly that you get 'the glare' when you're watching Hannibal." She sits down next to him, on the shaded sofa where sunlight never stretches over. "Especially if he's around Abigail."  
  
Jared stares at the empty mug, the blood residue slowly sliding down to form a thin layer left over the bottom. He stares at chalky fingertips poking through the ends of his gloves. He fights the urge to bring the mug back to his face and spread his jaw, tongue stretching to suck every last, little drop down.  
  
"He's lucky. He was turned."  
  
It's the truth, too; Hannibal might think Danica was the worst thing to happen to him, but at least he had the luxury of being turned by her. Not born to and later poked and prodded and tested and tasered and hunted down.  
  
"Is that why you don't like it when he's around Abigail?"  
  
Karen is watching him, lips curved slightly - she's observant, more observant than Zoe or even Abigail. Maybe it's because out of all of them, she's spent the most time with Blade, she came the closest to seeing humanity lose and vampires win, and she helped tip the odds in humanity's favor. She's experienced.  
  
Or maybe she just understands relationships and emotions and feelings and wants, that longing for normal and the inability to have it.  
  
Jared can relate.  
  
"What's it like out in the sun?" he asks, avoiding the question and answering it at the same time.  
  
"Bright."  
  
Jared watches Abigail work on her laptop while King reads one of those Dracula comics and tells her how wrong it's gotten things. "I can imagine." He swallows and wonders how Nyssa felt when Blade left - with barely a word said between them - and walked off into the daylight.


	4. past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blade the series references.

* * *

She picks up right away there's going to be tension between these two.  
  
Hannibal and Jared watch each other after introductions, after Dad explains what exactly Nomak is and how he came to be and that the House of Damaskinos is under new, more...sympathetic leadership.  
  
(She makes a mental note to ask Dad about that later; she sees the distaste in his expression, knows there's more to Nyssa Damaskinos than being Eli Damaskinos' daughter and Jared Nomak's sister. But it's best to wait until it's just the two of them and they can _talk_. Not inform.)  
  
Abigail introduces the group to Jared; she knows them all better than her dad does. She lets her dad start it off, introducing Karen Jenson first because he knows the doctor better than Abigail does in some ways, and then she takes off. Listing off names, purposes, a little bit about them all.  
  
When she gets to Hannibal he interjects - and she's hardly surprised, because King loves to talk - but she knows instinctively this isn't going to go smoothly when Hannibal starts posturing; there's an edge to his wisecracking self-intro.  
  
And even though Jared merely nods and takes all the information in and studies everyone, Abigail knows she's right. Because his eyes narrow on Hannibal, and King matches the slight glare. And Abby starts to worry that the presence of a vampire - mutated or not - scares King too much or maybe the idea of a cure for those lucky enough to not be born a vampire fills the reaper with too much envy.  
  
They don't start anything though, not yet - not with her and her dad watching, waiting. She realizes that Dad's sizing up the tension and the glares, same as her, and she loses focus for a moment; _'Dad, why don't you stay?'_ she almost asks right there.  
  
 _'I missed you. I thought you were dead. I thought you weren't, but Blade would have to kill you._  
  
 _'I thought I might have to kill you. I had nightmares about it.'_  
  
Abby keeps it buried though, all the emotion that slipped out a little when Dad and this reaper vampire thing showed up earlier. She shoves it back down and takes a deep breath and asks Karen and Sommerfield to talk to Nomak and take some blood samples.  
  
Maybe he can be useful to them as well as to the hunting and killing part of their mission.  
  
Nomak goes with them.  
  
King watches; then looks at her dad like he's crazy. Then looks at her like he thinks she'll feel the same.  
  
Abigail runs a hand through her hair and asks her dad if they can talk.  
  
"Yeah. We got a little time."  
  
A little time. Abigail almost snorts at that; her dad's missing, undead for two years, and they've only got a little time to catch up. But it's not unexpected, not when all the time they spent together before was training and lecturing and more training.  
  
He's been more instructor than father, but Abigail sometimes wonders if she'd resent him trying to be more father, so she lets it go.  
  
"Where are you and Blade heading next?" she asks as she walks with him.   
  
"I don't know. Been out of the loop for a while. Any big activity we should look in on?"  
  
"Detroit's population has been growing again. The House of Chthon's moved in; they've positioned one of their members there, Marcus Van Sciver." _We were actually thinking of going there, but I'm sure you'll think Blade's better suited for the job._  
  
Not that she's envious or bitter towards the adopted brother she's never met.  
  
"Sounds like a solid lead." He glances at her, and she catches a glimpse of emotion again, of words unspoken rising to the surface. But then his brow furrows, and he scowls. "I'm sorry about dumping all this on you right when I'm back. And I'm sorry I can't stick around." He stops, hands moving to his the back of his hips as he looks around at the equipment, the layout, the rest of the group off in the distance. "But you've got a good group here; you'll do better without me breathing down your neck."  
  
 _Does Blade ever get tired of you breathing down his neck?_ She bites her lip though; she didn't say it out loud, but she still feels guilty. It's unfair.  
  
Her dad's fucked up, and she's fucked up, and if she had a kid...well, she'd probably fuck up and fuck them up too. Too much fear and worry and all those things that can take your mind off the work and make you slip up.  
  
So she nods and smiles, wanly - but she means it. "We've been making progress. More groups are being set up. If, um, if you ever need someone a bit more tech savvy, I know a guy who would probably fit with you and Blade."  
  
He studies her, smiling a little too. "I'll take it into consideration." He sounds offended, but she knows it's more show.  
  
And that puts her at ease; she'll handle the tortured boys and their tension and potential rivalry later. Tonight she's going to talk with her dad.


	5. present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been forever, but I still have plans for this fic. In that I want to continue it but I'm not sure where exactly it's going or what the point even is? But a huge thank you to those who have left kudos! I honestly didn't expect many people to read this, so I'm very excited to see any kudos given! Feedback, as always, is greatly appreciated!

* * *

"This was a bad idea."  
  
Karen rolls her eyes and holds out a warm mug to Abby. "No, it wasn't. They need to work together, even if they don't like each other. They have to get over their issues, cause we are all a team here, Abby. Not just rowdy kids you keep in line."  
  
Abigail takes the mug, breathes in the scent of tea and honey and a helluva lot of whiskey, and sips. Warmth sides down her throat and spreads through her chest and stomach; a few more sips and it starts to soothe the pain in her abdomen. "It's more than not liking each other, they don't trust each other. I don't trust them on their own."  
  
"But they're not," her friend reminds her, sitting down on the other side of the table. "Dex is with them."  
  
Abigail fixes Karen with a quirked eyebrow and slight smirk.   
  
Karen chuckles. "I know, Dex can't physically stop either of them. But he can do something better."  
  
"Really?" Abigail takes a larger swallow of the hot toddy, savoring the effect of it on her body - and her stress levels. "And what's that, Doc?"  
  
"He can snitch." Karen's smirking now, and Abigail laughs despite herself. "You know I'm right. They'll behave, cause Dex won't hesitate to tell you if they get into it, and neither of them want you any more pissed off or risk you taking a side." Her friend goes quiet then, and Abigail gets the distinct feeling she's being studied. Karen always pulls this after getting Abby tipsy.  
  
She's going to have to repay the favor. Eventually. If she can ever convince Karen to have a drink.  
  
After a few minutes of 'the dissecting' look, Whistler shifts and sighs and finally, "What?"  
  
"I know you care about Hannibal and Jared. And I know you're very aware of how they feel about you. I guess I'm just wondering how you're doing, dealing with all this-"  
  
"All this stupid emotional bullshit?" Abigail cuts in, the alcohol giving her a touch of her father's mouth. "I'm ignoring it, is what I'm doing. I mean, for fuck's sake, we're vampire hunters! I don't have time to play kindergarten love games. And even if I did, even if I could let myself get distracted by this mess, if I open up and examine my own feelings and find I might return anyone's affection, then someone else winds up hurt. And they might get angry or bitter and it might get in the way of everything, and I am not going to let that happen." Whistler huffs and slouches back in her chair, taking a swig from her nearly empty mug. "I should have put my foot down when Dad showed up. Told him to babysit if he wanted Jared on our side so badly. King I know how to handle, but Jared - I don't think even Jared knows how to handle himself. I mean, do you remember that time he got sick from drinking the slushie? It was a stupid idea, and I'm pretty sure he suspected it might react badly, but he still goes and does it!"  
  
Across from her, Karen laughs. "Abigail, that might be the most normal thing Nomak's done." At Abby's confused look, Karen explains, "Men are always doing stupid things to impress women or get affection. Nomak might be different biologically from every other male there is, but he's still very much a man."  
  
Maybe that's the problem, Whistler wants to say.   
  
Blade has worked to turn himself into a living weapon, a legend among the vampire world - literally renaming himself Blade and shedding Eric Brooks like a skin - and is someone that she and the other Nightstalkers think of with respect and a sort of awe. He's more than human, more than vampire in a way that makes him almost untouchable. Not to mention being her father's favored child, but she's not thinking about that. Ever.  
  
Jared Nomak, on the other hand, isn't human, isn't vampire, isn't something in-between. He's angry and bitter and sometimes timid, sometimes earnest. He's confused and vulnerable and more dangerous than anyone or anything else Abigail has ever known or even heard of.  
  
And then there's Hannibal King - loud and foul-mouthed more than even her father, human turned vampire turned him, part college kid part puppy and like Blade and Nomak another victim of vampires and their twisted appetites. But he's thoroughly human, sometimes Abigail thinks maybe more human than even she is, and she wonders if that's because he's never been around her father for more than a couple of hours.  
  
"I'm too tipsy and in too much pain for this," Abigail whines, leaning forward until her forehead touches the table.  
  
Karen squeezes her shoulder sympathetically. "Men are a frustrating creature." She's speaking from plenty of her own experience, Whistler knows. Not just an asshole ex who wound up a vampire zombie, and a dick high school sweetheart who couldn't keep it in his pants. Karen is the one person besides Whistler who has seen Blade at his most human - his most Eric Brooks. Karen has told Whistler in the past she thinks maybe that's why he thought they should work separately, afraid of the vulnerability that comes with humanity.   
  
Abigail supposes her dad is the only tie to humanity that Blade is prepared to deal with. It makes Blade feel a little more real to her, ties her to him in its own weird way that blood wouldn't, couldn't.  
  
"Why did my life have to get so complicated? I just wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps and kill vampires."  
  
"Hey, least you volunteered. I got dragged into this mess. Literally."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Forgiven. Want another?"  
  
Abby holds out her now empty mug, forehead still planted on the table. "Yes please." She isn't sure what's going on in her head right now, but she knows she wants to get too drunk to remember any of it.


	6. past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day! So originally this was chapter five, but then I got inspired and wrote another chapter set during the present and decided that I'd rather have that chapter come before this scene with Whistler Sr. and Nomak. So if you happened to catch this right when it was uploaded as chapter five, sorry for the confusion! Feedback appreciated!

* * *

"I'll be there when you arrive in the States. Then I'm gonna take you to stay with some others. They're headed up by my daughter, and as well as an old friend of me and Blade - someone who might can even help you, if you want to try."  
  
Abraham Whistler's lived a long life with a pretty heavy mixture of happiness, bitterness, grief, and fucking up. He isn't sure what this latest decision of his is or what it'll bring, but something in his gut tells him the same thing it said the day he found a wild teenager with fangs out in the day.  
  
Keep him around. Give him a chance.  
  
Nomak doesn't want to stay with the remains of the House of Damaskinos, or his sister despite her promises to help him.   
  
Whistler can't blame him on that. After everything his father did to him, no surprise he has a hard time believe his sister will be any different. A prettier, friendlier face don't mean jack shit in this world.  
  
He had always thought Blade understood that too. Least they're finally leaving this damn country behind.  
  
"But you listen to me, the people I'm gonna leave you with - they might be vampire hunters like Blade, but they're all human. Don't mean they ain't got plenty of experience. They hate vampires same as me, same as you. If you give them any shit, especially my little girl, I'll off you quicker than Blade could, hard shell around that heart of yours or not."  
  
The reaper just nods, drains the blood bag in his hands. He's got a cooler stocked full to keep him company in the crate they have to ship him over seas in - all with no questions asked, even in the States, compliments of his damn sister.  
  
'Abby's gonna kill me,' Whistler thinks to himself with a heavy sigh.  
  
But the kid can't stay with him and Blade. They could kill him, but, he's proved himself pretty damn useful.   
  
Whistler wonders if he's going too soft in his old age; maybe those couple years as a suckhead has fucked with his mind. Sparing Blade, taking him in, training him, that made sense - Blade couldn't turn people, couldn't spread the virus. But Whistler looks over Nomak and his tattered layers of clothing, and Whistler remembers all the fucked up shit he went through while the vampires had him - things he won't ever tell Blade about, because some things a man has to keep to himself  - and his gut tells him again this is the right thing to do.  
  
Besides, his daughter's a big girl. She can make sure the reaper doesn't get out of control.  
  
There's an annoying voice that sounds much more paternal than he should let himself be saying maybe he's hoping Nomak can also take care of her, too. Give her someone like Blade, someone more than human on her side.  
  
He tells that voice to shut up.


End file.
